Daily Times

A local court on Friday recorded a confessional statement of main suspect Nazir Sahto in the high-profile murder case of journalist Aziz Memon.

The court recorded the statement of the accused under Section 164 of the Criminal Procedure Code and then sent him to prison on judicial remand. It handed over the custody of two other suspects to police on physical remand for questioning for one day.

Speaking at a press conference, Additional Inspector General (AIG) Ghulam Nabi Memon revealed that Nazir Sahto confessed to killing the journalist and disclosed the names of his accomplices in the crime.

Three suspects Nazir, Farhan and Amir have been arrested while five more people involved in the murder are yet to be apprehended, he said, adding Mushtaq Sahito, one of the suspects still at large, was the mastermind of the journalist Aziz murder.

Mushtaq smothered the journalist by covering his face with a piece of cloth resulting in his death, the AIG disclosed, adding Aziz Memon was murdered because of personal enmity.

On February 16, Memon’s body was recovered from a river with a cable wrapped around his neck. The local reporter had earlier accused the PPP, as well as Naushahro Feroze police, of threatening him for unflattering reporting of party chairperson Bilawal Bhutto Zardari’s widely-publicised ‘train march’ last year.

Shortly after news of the journalist’s murder broke, journalists in Islamabad had protested against his killing and asked the chief justice to look into the matter.

Federal Minister Fawad Chaudhry had noted in particular that the slain journalist had made allegations against the ruling party in Sindh prior to his death, and suggested that the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) should investigate the murder. Provincial Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah had condemned Memon’s death, saying authorities would soon catch his killers.